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The great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life? There is no deficit in...

Applications for the 2020 Helen Abbott Community Service Awards are now live! Eligible high school and college students are encouraged to apply for the Arab American Institute Foundation's scholarship, which is awarded annually to students who demonstrate commitment to community service and pride in their Arab heritage. Click here to...

Founded a decade ago, Blossom Hill Foundation operates a fellowship program that offers grants to support children who have been affected by conflicts in the Middle East. Rosy Nimroody-Jacobs, Deputy Director of Blossom Hill Foundation, stopped by our offices to tell us more about the impact their Fellowship Program has had...

The Arab American Institute Foundation is delighted to launch The MENA Artisan Initiative - a new endeavor that aims to connect American small businesses with local artisans from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The Artisan Initiative launches with a focus on Tunisia and will be expanding to neighboring MENA countries. The...

Today, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that constitutes a direct assault on academic freedom, First Amendment rights, and advocacy for Palestinian human rights. AAI has long opposed efforts to stifle criticism of Israel and advocacy for Palestinian rights under the guise of combatting anti-Semitism, including congressional efforts like...

When a crowd of reporters swarmed Marco Saavedra ahead of the press conference he had scheduled for the morning of Thursday November 7, 2019, he did what comes naturally to him. He recited poetry: “Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old...

Glance, unlock. Accessing your beloved electronic companion has never been easier as the key is now your unique face. Simple enough? Not so fast. The convenient technology of facial recognition has not made it into our daily lives without controversy, and with good reason. Leading electronics companies across the board...

Where hate ends, love grows. This week, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights organized a series of events in Washington, D.C., centered around improving the response to hate crime and memorializing those we have lost to tragic acts of hate. On Tuesday, Nov. 19, The Leadership Conference designed...

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report on the subject of hate crimes on November 13, 2019, just one day after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published its annual hate crime statistics for 2018. The Commission’s report, In the Name of Hate: Examining the Federal Government’s Role...

Following this week’s release of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2018 Hate Crime Statistics report, which showed the deadliest year on record and the most violent since 2001, AAI Executive Director Maya Berry made a clear, but nevertheless difficult, observation. “The Trump Administration,” she said, “has advanced policies, and the...